A lovably nerdy mind set has helped the city in the Pacific Northwest become a wine lover's destination

THEIR OWN MASTERS | Erik Liedholm, wine director of the John Howie restaurant group
Kyle Johnson for The Wall Street Journal

ENLARGE

Chris Tanghe of Aragona
Kyle Johnson for The Wall Street Journal

WHEN RESEARCHERS at Central Connecticut State University decided last year to find the most literate American city, they analyzed six sets of data, including newspaper circulation figures and the number of bookstores and libraries. Had they included the studiousness of a city's sommeliers, then Seattle would surely have fared better than second place. After all, at least 80% of Seattle's sommeliers spend a good portion of their time hunched over their wine encyclopedias in pursuit of some kind of degree or certification.

This may sound a touch obsessive, but these knowledge-hungry professionals have put together some of the country's most inventive restaurant wine lists, and turned Seattle from a casual-dining town into a top destination for oenophiles.

That 80% figure is an estimate from Shayn Bjornholm, the examination director of the Court of Master Sommeliers, the organization that runs the world's most competitive sommelier degree program.

Mr. Bjornholm, who lives in Seattle, has a great deal of insight into the wine scene—and the wine psyche—of his hometown. Before becoming the group's examination director, he was named a Master Sommelier (one of only 135 in this country), and for six years, he was the wine director of Canlis, the city's most famous restaurant. (Yes, in Seattle there is a single most famous spot.) Over a recent lunch at Sitka & Spruce (a pretty-famous Seattle restaurant), I asked Mr. Bjornholm why he thought his fellow Seattle somms were so education-minded.

Mr. Bjornholm offered a few plausible theories, starting with the city's underdog status: "Sommeliers in Seattle understand that there is no way they can compete with a city like New York in terms of access to great wines, but they can aspire to be Master Sommeliers," he said.

The possible payoff was also appealing. Sommelier salaries aren't particularly high in Seattle—around $40,000 to $50,000 a year, they're roughly half the average New York salary. But a sommelier with a Master degree can command considerably more—even twice as much—than a sommelier without one. And finally, there was the bond among the sommeliers. "Seattle has become one of the great places to get your Master Sommelier degree because of its altruistic, pay-it-forward mentality," said Mr. Bjornholm. "People want to do well, make a name for themselves, but not at the expense of the community." Preparing for the Master exam is quite daunting and requires team work. Just as medical students need study groups, so do would-be Master Somms.

In his travels all over the world administering exams, Mr. Bjornholm has seen a good many towns that aren't as collegial as Seattle. "There are less supportive communities where there are cliques. If a great gig comes up, some sommeliers might keep it to themselves," he observed.

‘Thanks to the rain, 'you end up spending a lot of time indoors reading.'’

There are four levels of exams within the Court of Master Sommeliers. The Introductory Sommelier test is open to anyone in the service industry—not just sommeliers. The next three levels—Certified Sommelier, Advanced Sommelier and Master Sommelier—are much more difficult and are restricted to wine professionals. The exams can include blind tastings, practical service tests and written theory exams. They last several hours and require a great deal of time and money.

The test fees alone can be thousands of dollars (each of the three portions of the Master diploma costs $795). There are also travel expenses to the various test sites (recent locations include San Francisco and Irving, Texas). And then there is the cost of the practice bottles. Would-be Masters must be familiar enough with a wide range of wines to be able to identify them blind. It can take a candidate several years to pass all three sections of the Master exam. Some of the sommeliers I spoke with had passed two portions (theory and service) but had to retake the blind tasting portion several times.

Seattle's most recently anointed Master Sommelier,
Chris Tanghe,
estimated that the title he earned in 2013 cost him tens of thousands of dollars and seven years of study. Mr. Tanghe, 33, is the wine and service director of Aragona, a fashionable new restaurant in downtown Seattle.

Mr. Tanghe originally worked in Arizona as a server, and moved to Seattle nine years ago somewhat randomly. "I just got into the car and drove," he recalled over lunch at Matt's in the Market, in the Pike Place Market (Mr. Tanghe once served as wine director at Matt's).

Several years ago, Mr. Tanghe became a member of a selective and prestigious sommeliers-only study group of about 25 active members that meets at Canlis at least once a week to taste wines and quiz one another in a format that is borrowed from the court. Called "the grid," it's a deductive tasting process complete with its own lexicon to help professionals accurately describe wines. Sommeliers may apply to join Mr. Tanghe's group, but are usually invited—and often work their way up from so-called "feeder groups," said Mr. Tanghe. The support of the Canlis group was key to his success, said Mr. Tanghe, adding, "I couldn't have done it without them." Mr. Tanghe is still an active member of the group.

Despite the culture of education and accomplishment that thrives in Seattle, Mr. Tanghe insisted that it was the city's good quality of life that did the best job of facilitating residents' commitment to learning about wine. "A balanced life is a priority," he said.

This was likely the only time that I've ever heard a sommelier use the word "balance" to describe his life, and not a wine. It was also a refrain I heard several times during my visit. For
Joseph Linder,
a Master Sommelier and wine director at Seattle's Fairmont Olympic Hotel, a balanced life was "critical."

Mr. Linder, 54, said he has experienced an unbalanced life working in places like Paris, London and New York. When he was a captain at Le Bernardin in New York, he worked from nine in the morning until midnight. Life isn't like that in Seattle. "You have more time to be part of the community—and to study, of course," he said.

Some of the city's wine directors manage to hold down a second job. Advanced Sommelier
Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen,
who was named the 2014 Washington state Sommelier of the Year by the Washington State Wine Commission, is the wine director of RN74 restaurant in Seattle as well as a winemaker in Woodinville, Wash., a 30-minute drive north of the city. (W.T. Vintners is his label.)

Mr. Lindsay-Thorsen is married and has three-year-old twins. It's a challenging juggle, he admitted during a chat at his winery, but somehow it was possible. It helped, he said, that his fellow Seattle sommeliers supported his work. "They all buy my wines."

One of Mr. Lindsay-Thorsen's sommelier-customers is Cortney Lease, wine director of a group of three restaurants that includes Wild Ginger. Ms. Lease, 30, is just one step away from Master Sommelier, having earned her Advanced Sommelier degree three years ago. She is studying to take her Master exam next year. Why become a Master Sommelier? I asked. After all, she already has a job that other sommeliers would surely covet. She shook her head. "Seattle is just a really educated community; you're expected to have a certain level of achievement here," she said.

Erik Liedholm,
a partner and the wine director for the
John Howie
restaurant group, is regarded as one of the most important wine professionals in the city and a role model for many. He has his Advanced degree from the Court of Master Sommeliers and encourages his staff to further their own education. Five of his employees are currently pursuing their own Advanced Sommelier degrees.

How does Mr. Liedholm account for the large number of well educated sommeliers in his town? The answer is simple: the weather. Since it rains so much in Seattle, "You end up spending a lot of time indoors reading books."

For readers who may have been wondering about the most literate city in America, the name of the winner might come as a surprise. It's Washington, D.C. Perhaps all those government documents pushed it to the fore? It certainly wasn't on account of the studiousness of its sommeliers. After all, only two Master Sommeliers live in our nation's capital.

ErikWhat an honor to be featured in the WSJ! But well deserved!! You do MSU's The School of Hospitality Business great honor as a prestigious alumnus.I loved the article and have sent it to our mutual friends.Congratulations!!Zoe

There is much focus on the number of Master Sommeliers in the world, where I think the current count is just under 300. But I cannot find the number of Advanced Sommeliers? I have searched and searched but to no avail. We have a wonderful friend here in Denver who is an Advanced Somm, and I believe she is part of the other unique and exclusive class of Oenophiles in the world. Do you have an exact or at least an approximate number in the U.S. and worldwide? Tom in Denver

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.